British Rock Calendar - December 1974

In December 1974, my friends and I were at Winterland twice. On the first day of the month we saw Fleetwood Mac. Their lead singer at that time was Bob Welch along with Christine McVie, John McVie's wife. I met Christine McVie after the show and asked her for an autograph. She was very polite and signed my little paper pad with a "Thank you!" above her name. I asked her if John was coming out soon, too. She told me that his drink had been spiked and that he was taken to the hospital. I said I was very sorry. I could tell that she was distraught. I was impressed that she had been so polite to me under the circumstances.

The opening act that night was Triumvirate, a German band, followed by The Eric Burbon Band. A week later we saw The Kinks. I had seen the Kinks a couple of years before at the Berkeley Community Theatre. We were at the front of the Winterland stage for this show December 8th. After the show we met the drummer and another member of the band, but were mostly interested in meeting Ray Davies. Quite a bit of time had passed and a small crowd of people were outside the stage door waiting along with us. After a long wait in the cold night air, we had engaged in conversation about the show and weather it was worth waiting around any longer. As I turned, Ray Davies walked up behind me. No one had noticed him except me. He seemed to be in a dream, unaware of the people around him. As he walked past me I handed him my paper pad and asked for his autograph. He took my pad and stepped into the waiting Limo. No one was able to speak to him or get an autograph. I turned to my friends and told them that he had taken my autograph book! Just then the limo's window rolled down and a hand popped out holding my pad. I grabbed it and saw that he had signed it. I was stunned as the Limo sped off into the night. The opening acts that night were Aerosmith and Climax Blues Band.